The Redhead Lady
by castlealways1
Summary: "She was a redhead."   Castle leaned closer to Beckett, lowering his voice near her ear."How badly do you need a suspect?"He asked, grinning."Because I've got two of those at home."  How will Castle handle an investigation that involves Martha and Alexis?


**A/N: Hey :) So, I'm still going to finish my other fic "After all this time" but I'm going through a block right now because I can't remember what I had written before I lost the whole thing xD **

**Anyway I'm not sure how this idea got into my head, but I think it might have been through a Castle Confession I saw on tumblr. **

**I have an idea where this is going, but writing about a crime it's always hard (at least for me) because there are so many little things you have to consider. I'll get there eventually :) **** Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy your reading :)**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

"You have got to be kidding me."

She leaned over Ryan's desk in order to get a better view of the monitor. There were no doubts. It was Castle's address next to that phone number, it was his name registered after the word "owner". Beckett blinked a couple times and straightened herself, brushing her face with her hands. "Seriously?' She asked, the exasperation clear in her voice.

"The system doesn't lie. But I can check it again if you want." Ryan replied, glancing at her over his shoulder.

"Yeah, do it."  
>He typed the phone number again. Caeser Francis, their victim, barely used his phone. How come one of the few numbers he was in contact with was Castle's? This new system they had not only had a lot of new features but it also made the research a lot easier. With only a phone number, it would give them an address, the owner, and, if wanted, photographs, GPS coordinates, an exterior over view and, sometimes, even a plan of the house. This time Ryan selected all those options before pressing enter. Thirty seconds later, Castle's photo was on the monitor, as well as some photographs of the area surrounding the building. That phone number definitely belonged to his house.<p>

"Damn it." Ryan murmured.

"Tell me about it." Taking a deep breath, Kate pulled out her phone from her pocket.

"So...What do you think? His mother?"

She pulled her lip between her teeth. Shit. Ryan's question had just made it way more real.

"I guess."

"So what do we do? Bring her in?" This time it was Esposito, speaking for the first time, standing in front of Ryan's desk.

Both boys looked at Kate, waiting for her to make a decision. She was still holding her phone, her finger hovering above the number 2. Yes, he was her first number on speed dial, but only because she had to call him every time they had a new case. _Only_ because of that, or at least that was what she kept telling herself.

"No. Find out any connections between Martha Rogers and Francis. Then..." She stopped herself there. Was this really happening? Did they really have to do this? She saw Gates glancing at them from her office. A curious, demanding glance. Yes, they did have. "Then call her in."

"Will do. Are you going to warn him?" Esposito asked.

"Of course."

"Don't you think we should wait? You know, to see if we find anything."

"He will have to know either way."

"She's right, dude. His mother is our prime suspect."

They both stared at Ryan, who had already opened a bunch of other programs to search for more information.

"What? I'm not saying I believe she did it. Actually, no, not at all." He added.

"Yeah, let's hope this is just a big misunderstanding."

Beckett started to make her way to the break room. She needed coffee in order to think clearly. She was tired of that extensive search for a suspect that now she almost wished they hadn't found. But just when she was about to open the door she remembered something else and rushed back to the boy's desks.

"What?" Esposito asked, staring up at her. She turned her head to look behind her, only to find Gates' office door closed. The captain was also on the phone, but still she leaned closer to them and lowered her voice.

"Not a single word to Gates about this before we find anything more concrete. Otherwise Martha will find herself in that interrogation room within no time."

"Sure." The boys replied at the same time.

"Thanks." She said, walking towards the break room again, this time with her phone next to her ear.

It rang once, twice...No answer. Damn it, why did he have to be gone today?

She had called him the previous morning, letting him know they had a body, found in the stairs of an old building downtown. He had only gotten there an hour later, bringing her her morning coffee, just like he always did.

"Thank you" She had said.

"You're welcome. So, what have we got?"

Lanie, kneeling near the dead body, had been the one to answer. "Caesar Francis, 63 years old, a neighbor found him here this morning but he's been dead all night. I can't exactly tell what the cause of death was yet, but I'm seriously considering poisoning."

"Poisoned caesar salad. It can happen to everyone." Castle had grinned even though both women were rolling their eyes at him. Kate had wondered if he caught that little smile that had crossed

her face after he was finished talking. Deep down, she hoped he had.  
>"Come on, writer boy. We've got tons of neighbors to interview." She had started to climb the stairs, heading to the 8th floor, where, apparently, the guy lived.<p>

"Aren't we going to check his house?" Castle had asked, climbing the stairs two by two, trying to catch her rhythm.

"Espo and Ryan are already taking care of that. You know, when people get to places on time, they usually get the best part of the job." She had stopped to look back at him, smirking, and had found him breathless behind her. "So we've got the endless interviews, thanks to you."

"I'm...sorry..." He had managed to say.

"It's alright. But you should practice your resistance."

"What? I...I do...plenty of exercise".

"Sure you do." She had replied, climbing the last couple of steps. "Relax, We're here."

There were five other apartments in that same floor, however nobody had been able to provide them some useful information.

"So you never talked to Mr. Francis?" By the time they had got to the fourth apartment, they both were tired of hearing the same stuff over and over again, with nothing useful coming up. The 40-year-old woman had thrown Beckett an infuriated glance before answering her.

"No, detective. How many times do I have to explain that he wasn't one of the friendliest people here? Geez. Can I go now?"

"Fine. " Kate had replied before turning her back away from the woman and heading to the last door. "Oh, but just in case…" She had stopped to face the woman again. Annoyed because none of that had taken her anywhere so far and irritated with the woman's tone, she had added: "Don't leave town."

"Nice one." Castle had whispered as he caught up with her.

"She was asking for it." Beckett had raised her hand, knocking on the wood door ahead of her. "One to go."

"Let's hope we're lucky this time, but if we don't we ca-…"

"Oh, detectives, I've been expecting you." The door opened, and behind her, a mid-aged man, all dressed in black, had given them a sad but welcoming smile.

"Hi. Hum… Mr. Harris, right? I'm detective Beckett, this is Richard Castle. We have a couple of questions to ask you about…"

"About Francis, yes, I know. Please come in."

The living room wasn't big, but it had enough space for an old couch, where Mr. Harris had told them to sit down. He had offered them tea and coffee, but they both declined it. It had been really nice of him, but they had work to do. Or at least, she had. And so the usual questioning started. The first answers hadn't taken them any further: Francis hadn't been living in the building for more than two years, he had always been quiet and not very talkative. But when asked, Mr. Harris informed them that lately he had seen a woman arriving to the guy's home at night quite often.

"How often would that be, exactly?" Castle had asked, frowning. Nobody had mentioned a girlfriend so far. And Esposito and Ryan hadn't found anything relevant in his apartment either.

"I don't know, once, twice a week?"

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Yesterday night, actually." Harris responded, widening his eyes at Castle and Beckett's reaction. They had looked at each other immediately, their eyes wide and their mouths slightly open. "What? Do you think it could have been her? But…I thought he died this morning…"

"No, he died last night indeed, but we're still verifying the details. Can you describe us the woman?" Beckett had asked, glad that she was finally writing something in the notebook she had brought.

"She usually arrived at the same time as I did when I came home from work, and that's why we'd cross paths. But I never paid her that much attention…"

"Anything you can tell us will help." Castle had assured him, leaning forward in the couch in order to hear him better.

"Oh, she was a redhead."

Castle leaned closer to Beckett, lowering his voice near her ear while watching her hand moving fast but elegantly while writing. "How badly do you need a suspect?" He had asked, grinning. "Because I've got two of those at home."

"Not that badly." She had chuckled discreetly, raising her eyes to look at the man sitting in front of her. "What else?"

"She was in her sixties, I guess…Pretty woman…" He had closed his eyes for a second, frowning before giving up. "I don't know. I don't remember anything else."

"I guess that excludes one of my redheads. " Castle had whispered, getting closer to her ear again.

She muttered him a "shut up" before closing the notebook in her lap and getting up, followed by Castle.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Harris. Give us a call if you remember anything else."

"I will."

After leaving Mr. Harris home, they had headed back to the precinct, where Ryan and Esposito had been running through the victim's financial records and phone registers, organizing testimonies and tracking down family members.

But it got late and eventually they all had decided to go home and continue the investigation in the next day.

"Guys, I can't come in tomorrow, I've got a meeting with my publisher." Castle had said while they were all heading to the elevator.

"Oh, Castle, I wonder how we're going to solve this one without you here." Beckett had smiled narrowing her eyes at him in a playful way. But the truth was that she didn't like it when he wasn't there. The day seemed longer, and boring, and endless, and…

"Very funny. Don't miss me too much." He had given her a little pat in the shoulder.

"Don't worry, we won't." Esposito smiled provokingly as he pressed the elevator button.

"I wasn't talking about y-"

"Yeah. You never are. But we get it." Ryan had said. "And relax, we'll text you pictures of the mystery redhead lady when we find her."

"_Guess he won't need those pictures after all." _Kate thought, while finishing her coffee. Castle hadn't answered any of her calls so far, and that only made her more anxious. She didn't want him to find out on his own that she was bringing his own mother for questioning. Well, maybe she wasn't. It could all still be a huge misunderstanding, a mistake in the phone records, or even in Ryan's software or…

"Beckett?" Esposito's voice woke her up from her thoughts. He was standing at the door, with a facial expression that she did not like even though she couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"Hm?"

"We found something."

* * *

><p><strong>AN2: Just three more things: - Don't forget English is not my first language. **

**- This will be more about the people than the crime itself. (does that make sense?)**

**Thoughts? Reviews would be highly appreciated :p just saying...**


End file.
